Written by Bryan O’Hara; Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020
Reviewed by ML Altobelli
You may think a book by this title is not for the ecological landscape professional, but the author’s understanding of the world of soils and plants is every bit as useful whether you are growing tomatoes or lady slipper orchids.
by Jennifer Jewell
Women have been sowers of seeds and tenders of seedlings for a very, very long time. For much of that time these women didn’t have the time or the means to document their history. There is no telling the whole story of women making their lives with plants or women broadening the field of plant knowledge and practice. I can’t even superficially acknowledge all the women in plants who’ve cultivated this territory before us, except to say the compost-rich soil they left behind is what germinated the seeds that grew the vibrant women I’m writing about today.
Protecting Pollinators by Jodi Helmer is a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about the myriad small and amazing creatures so crucial to our survival as a species. Reading the book is like having a dear friend share with you all the fascinating things she’s learned about pollinators during her journey to becoming a successful beekeeper, then placing all her resources at your fingertips.
Written by Nancy J. Hayden and John P. Hayden
Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, 2019
Reviewed by Lucy Birkett
Farming on the Wild Side chronicles, in a most delightful and humble way, the progression of a small organic farm in northern Vermont. An entomologist and an environmental engineer make nurturing biodiversity a top priority as they transform an old dairy farm into a productive, thriving, diversified farm teeming with life. The entire book is interspersed with moments of poignant philosophical wisdom, and ecology is everywhere.
Written by Walter Cudnohufsky with Mollie Babize
Reviewed by Trevor Buckley and Emily Davis
Cultivating the Designer’s Mind: Principles and Process for Coherent Landscape Design, readers will find a window into the mind of Walter Cudnohufsky, founder of the Conway School of Landscape Design and a visionary educator in design and planning. Accompanied by co-author Mollie Babize, a Conway alum and former administrator of the graduate program, Cudnohufsky presents an ably written and accessible book that demystifies the sometimes elusive design process and espouses a democratic design ethos. Through the lenses of landscape and ecology, they lay out a vision for applying a deliberative and compassionate mode of design-thinking to our complex and frenetic world.
Healing Earth – An Ecologist’s Journey of Innovation and Environmental Stewardship Written by John Todd Published by North Atlantic Books, 2019 Reviewed by Cindy Goulder It’s easy to be overwhelmed with despair by the many degradations of our natural world and the tumultuous effects expected of the changing climate. But John Todd is not despairing….
Fruitful Labor: The Ecology, Economy and Practice of a Family Farm Written by Mike Madison Published by Chelsea Green Publishing, 2018 Reviewed by Rhiannon Lewis Mike Madison is a farmer, a biologist, and an advocate for biota at all scales. From the soil fauna, to the cultivated crops and the native creatures, Madison espouses a…
Written by Yoshifumi Miyazaki Published in the U.S by Timber Press, 2018 Reviewed Yoshifumi Miyazaki connected with nature in his family’s garden at a young age and followed a winding career path that led to research into Shinrin-yoku, the practice of walking slowly through the woods, or forest bathing. Recognizing intuitively that…
Practical Organic Gardening: The No-Nonsense Guide to Growing Naturally Written by Mark Highland Published by Cool Springs Press, 2017 Reviewed by Rie Macchiarolo Practical Organic Gardening is a great book for gardeners, farmers, and horticulturalists of all skill levels. In the first chapter author Mark Highland notes that while organic farming and organic gardening share…
Written by Carey Gillam Published by Island Press, October 2017 Reviewed by Kerry O’Kelly Is the EPA actually working to protect the public from the potential dangers of Roundup®? Carey Gillam makes a strong case for answering that question with a “NO.”
Written by Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe Published by Globe Pequot Press, March 1, 2018 Reviewed by Angela Tanner As a landscape designer, my clients request low-maintenance gardens more than any other site feature, and I typically recommend native plants as a solution. However daunting the site conditions, there is usually a native plant that…
Sowing Beauty: Designing Flowering Meadows from Seed By James Hitchmough Published by Timber Press, 2017 This magnificent volume’s title underscores the work’s poetic reason for being: as a guide to creating beautiful meadows in urban settings. But the book goes much further than that. Within these pages, the designer will find a definitive, broad-reaching and…
